Paris (and Nantes): Whoa, Deja-Vu.

Mkay so recap: I lived in St. Gemain-en-Laye when I was little (for 2.5 years) so that's where I learned French, and then junior year of HS I studied at the Sacred Heart school (called La Perverie) in Nantes (which is 2 hours by train west). So most of (all of?) this stuff I have seen before: Spring break was less about doing tourist-y stuff and more about seeing friends and familiar sights :)

I did NOT spend enough time anywhere: got into Paris at midnight on Monday, I went to Le Mans to see my old HS roommate (from La Perv) for 5 hours on Tuesday, continued on to Nantes where I stayed with a friend from La Perv (and saw many of my fab friends, some who even drove home to see me:)) and then spent Wednesday afternoon through Friday afternoon in Paris. While my highlights were seeing lots of old friends and visiting places from my childhood, here was my spring break in France 101:

Group of students I studied with at La Perverie!!!

Nantes, which is a beautiful city, does not have that much going on tourist-wise. I like it better that way, and people in Nantes are so friendly ! (Yes, Parisians do have a reputation for their... rudeness? coldness?) But it's a pretty big town/city with quite a lot going on. Passage de Pommeraye is definitely worth a look.

PARIS:

The Louvre

So the Louvre (for the under-26 crowd, I'm so glad I get to travel and still get discounts, etc.) is free. And beautiful. And has TONS of tourists. But I don't care because I got to see my favorite painting of all time. It's Fragonard's "Le Verrou" ("The Lock") and while the explanation of why I love it so much is fairly long, seeing the painting live is my #9 lifetime goal (that's a Top Ten Goal!! So a biggie!) When we turned the corner I literally gasped with excitement. SUCH a pretty painting...

LE VERROU!!! AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

The Louvre also has, of course, the Mona Lisa, da Vinci's Madonna of the Rocks, a Delacroix collection, Michelangelo sculptures, etc. But you can read about it on the Louvre's website.

Effiel Tower: It opens at 9:30am, so GET THERE at 9:30am. The crowds get insaneeeeeee. And honestly, climbing it is 100 times more fun then getting in a cramped elevator, though that is the only way of getting to the third floor. But still, the best part of the 3rd level is the view, and the Eiffel Tower is the pretty part of the Parisian skyline anyway... Still. I remember climbing the stairs all the time when I was little. Then my brother and I would watch the movie in the little cinema on the first floor (mini- documentary about the history). And he would have a fit of joy when he saw the Superman clip...

Should mention: for students, elevator to the third level (which is actually two elevator rides) is 11 euro. Gross.

Miss Haley and myself after finishing with the Eiffel Tower.

Notre Dame

We got to go to the Notre Dame on Holy Thursday (Thursday before Easter, for those with little to no Catholic education ;)) which was really cool. Great weather, too. And the Notre Dame is the only place in Europe I've seen thus far that allows you to actually light a candle in remembrance of someone (though it is 2 euros, versus 20 cents to turn on the fake candle)

Beautiful day, gorgeous Cathedral.

Food

(Not a location, but it might as well be. I am positive I gained weight in France.)

I LOVE FRENCH FOOD. And they have sooo much chocolate in breakfast foods. Here was my breakfast in Nantes: (right to left)

Hot chocolate

Pain au chocolate

Sable de chocolate (it's really just a chocolate cookie)

And yes, I ate almost all of it. When buying the sable and the pain au chocolate, the woman at the boulangerie seemed to think I was ordering both for me and my friend ... so when Scott started to order his food, she got confused and said, "Oh I'm sorry! I though she [me] was ordering for the both of you!" I simply reassured her, "No, it's ok, I'm just fat."

Foods I didn't get to eat but would have if I had time: escargot (snails are yum), croque monsieur, moules frites, hot chocolate at angelina's (near the Tiulerie), quiches. etc. FRENCH FOOD IS SO BOMB.

Finally, my old home

St. Gemain-en-Laye is HOPPING, but with absolutely no tourists. It's a pretty big town, 20 minutes by RER outside of Paris, and on the Friday that I went there was the huge market, so it was super busy with all native French people. It was so weird being in the Monoprix I used to push my mini-shopping cart around in (it's weird what you remember), staring at the Chateau (now museum of archaeology) you used to run around inside, and though I didn't get to visit my old school (apparently it was shut down?), it was amazing to be in a place with so many memories. As a four year old, though, you really don't appreciate the fact that you are lucky enough to live in another country (next to what I consider to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world) and learn another language. So it was a truly beautiful experience getting to visit a place that, on more than one occasion (St Gemain and Nantes), I called "home".

Top right window in the picture... I think that was my parent's bedroom? And the living room was the other two windows on that level? Max and I had a bedroom on the other side of the building...